Decathletes (Jump the Curve)

In his book Jump the Curve, visionary Jack Uldrich shares his "50 essential strategies to help your company stay ahead of emerging technologies." His focus is on what he calls the exponential executive, the successful forward-thinking leaders in the future.


Strategy #24 of 50 is "Develop Decathletes."  Uldrich quotes General Pete Shoomaker of the U.S. Army saying the military needed to be "making decathletes that are just good enough at everything."

The full text is below, but the idea is that successful leaders will be like the Renaissance men of old, conversant and able to make logical connections across several disciplines.

Supporting these leaders will be complementary individuals with diverse knowledge and backgrounds.  Uldrich writes:  "The idea of seeking out different individuals with different skill sets and hiring people with different perspectives or who live out on the fringe might seem a little counterintuitive to building a cohesive team capable of jumping the curve, but...it is just the beginning of thinking in a counterintuitive manner."

To build yourself as a leader:

• Be a decathlete.  Learn as much as you need to learn about as many things as you can


• Be skilled enough to get the job done


• Build a team with diverse thoughts, skills, and experiences to find new ways to get the job done

Best,

Bryan